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HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF TFE 



THIRD ARMY CORPS 




A SOUVENIR FROM THE \^ . 

SURVIVORS AT WASHINGTON TO THEIR 
VISITING COMRADES AT THE THIRTY- 
SIXTH NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT OF 
THE GRAND ARMY OF THE^REPUBLIC 



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■ PUBLISHED AT CORPS HEADQUARTERS. 

Camp Roosevelt, Washington, D. C. 
October 6, 1902. 



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Author* 

'3 W'O? 



Ibl^torical Sketch of tbe Zhivt> Hrm^ 
Corps. 



The Third Army Corps was formed March 8, 
1862, by President Lincoln, as Commander-in- 
Chief, from the divisions of Heintzelman, Porter 
and Hooker, and the first-named, as senior officer 
of the corps, assigned to its command. He was 
succeeded as division commander by General 
Hamilton, who shortly gave place to General 
Kearny, and eventually became a distinguished 
officer in the western armies. 

Porter s division never actually served with 
the corps, and after the battle of Williamsburg, 
May 5, 1862, was formally detached from it by 
General McClellan, to become part of a pro- 
visional corps under Porter himself. The corps, 
therefore, consisted of the divisions of Hooker 
and Kearny till the close of the Second Bull 
Eun campaign, when Kearny being killed and 
Hooker transferred to the command of another 
corps. General Birney succeeded Kearny and 
Hooker was succeeded by General Sickles. Prior 
to the Fredericksburg campaign, in the early 
winter of 1862, a small division under General 
Whipple was added to the corps, and Heintzel- 
man was replaced by General Stoneman as corps 
commander. After that campaign, Stoneman 
was transferred to the command of the newly- 
formed cavalry corps, and succeeded by General 



Sickles, whose division was then placed under 
General Berry. 

In the ChancellorHville campaign, May, 1863, 
Berry was killed and Whipple mortally wounded, 
and his division, except two regiments, sent else- 
where, was distributed between the First Division, 
under Birney, and the Second Division, under 
General Humphreys, the successor of BeiTy. 

In the Gettysburg campaign. Sickles was dis- 
abled for further field service by a severe wound, 
and was succeeded by General French, who had 
brought to the corps a new Third Division, which 
passed to the command of General Carr. Hum- 
phreys was detached to higher duty, and General 
Mott succeeded him in command of the Second 
Division. 

Under French, the corps made the two short 
campaigns of the Rappahannock and of Mine 
Run, in the late autumn of 1863, and on March 
23, 1864, was discontinued by order of President 
Lincoln, after an existence of two years. The 
Third Division was separated from the two 
original divisions, which then became the Third 
and Fourth Divisions of the Second Army Corps ; 
but they retained their own corps badge and 
ensigns. They were consolidated into one di- 
vision under Birney soon after the opening of 
the Wilderness campaign in May, 1864, and so 
they remained till the disbandment of the Army 
of the Potomac near the end of June, 1865. Mott 
becoming and remaining the commander of the 
single division upon the transfer of Birney to a 
higher command in the summer of 1864. 

Williamsburg was the first battle of the corps, 
and the date of that battle. May 5tli, has been 
accepted by the sur^^vors of the coi^os as its own 
anniversary. The composition of the corps, per- 
sonally commanded by Brig. Gen. Samuel P. 
Heintzelman, in that battle, was as follows : 



First Division. — Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter; 
absent from the corps on detached service. 

Second Division. — Brig. Gen. Joseph Hooker. 

First Brigade. — Brig. Gen. Cuvier Grover : 
1st Mass., Col. Robert Cowdin; 11th Mass., Col. 
WilHam Blaisdell : 2d N. H., Col. Gilman Mars- 
ton : 26th Pa., Col. Wilham F. Small. 

Second Brigade. — Col. Nelson Taylor : 70th 
N. Y., Col. Wilham Dwight, Jr.; 72d N. Y., 
Lieut. Col. Israel Moses ; 73d N. Y., Col. Wilham 
R. Brewster; 74th N. Y., Lieut. Col. Charles H. 
Burtis. 

Third Brigade. — Brig. Gen. Francis E. Pat- 
terson : 5th N. J.. Col. Samuel H. Starr ; 6th 
N. J., Lieut. Col. John P. Van Leer (killed) ; 7th 
N. J., Lieut. Col. Ezra A Carman ; 8th N. J., 
Col. Adolphus J. Johnson. 

Second Division Artillery. — Maj. Charles S. 
Wainwright: D, 1st N. Y., Capt. Thomas W. 
Osborn ; 4th N. Y., Capt. James E. Smith ; 6th 
N. Y., Capt. Walter M. Bramhall; H, 1st U. S., 
Capt. Charles H. Webber. 

Division Los^. — Killed, 337 ; wounded, 908 ; 
missing, 330 ; total, 1,575. 

Thied Division. — Brig. Gen. Philip Kearny. 

First Brigade. — Brig. Gen. Charles D. Jame- 
son: 87th N. Y., Col. Stephen A. Dodge; 57th 
Pa., Col. Charles T. Campbell: 63d Pa., Col. 
Alexander Hays ; 105th Pa., Col. Amor A. 
McKnight. 

Second Brigade. — Brig. Gen. David B. Birney : 
3d Me., Col. Henry G. Staples; 4th Me., Col. 
Elijah Walker ; 38th N. Y., Col. J. H. Hobart 
AVard ; 40th N. Y., Col. Edward J. Riley. 

Third Brigade. — Brig. Gen. Hiram G. Berry: 
2d Mich., Col. Orlando M. Poe : 3d Mich., Col. 
Stephen G. Champlin ; 5th Mich., Col. Henry D. 
TeiTy ; 37th N. Y., Col. Samuel B. Hayman. 



Third Division Artillery. — Captain James 
Thompson : B, 1st N. J., Capt. John E. Beam : 
E, 1st K. I., Capt. George E. Randolph ; G, 2d 
U. S., Capt. James Thompson. 

Division Loss. — Killed, 87 ; wounded. 315 ; 
missing, 17 ; total, 419. 

The total loss of the two divisions of the corps 
was 1,994. out of a total loss of 2,234 in the five 
Union divisions engaged, and the severity of the 
battle fell chiefly upon the Second Division. 

After its baptism of fire at AVilliamsburg, the 
coiiDs. consisting still of the divisions of Hooker 
and Kearny, went thi'ough the other battles of 
the Peninsula campaign, including Fair Oaks, 
Oak Grove and Malvern Hill, and the closing 
engagements of the Sscond Bull Run campaign, 
including Groveton and Chantilly. 

It was then placed in the defenses of Washing- 
ton, in recognition of its war-worn condition, and 
was absent from the Antietam campaign. 

In preparation for the campaign by waj^ of the 
Rappahannock intended by General Burnside, 
the corps again took the field, and in the battle 
of Fredericksburg, December. 1862, its two old 
divisions were detached from the center, to sup- 
port the operations of the left wing, under Gen- 
eral Franklin. The corps was commanded by 
Stoneman, the divisions by Birney, Sickles and 
AVhipple, the brigades of the First Division hy 
Brigadier Generals John C. Robinson, J. H. 
Hobart Ward and Hiram G. Berry ; those of the 
Second Division by Brigadier Generals Joseph 
B Carr and Joseph W. Revere, and Col. George 
B. Hall ; and those of the Third Division by Brig. 
Gen. A. Sanders Piatt, and Col. Samuel S. 
Carroll. The coiids loss was 145 killed, 832 
wounded, and 364 missing ; total 1,341 out of a 
strength of some 13,000, of which 1,113 was in 



the First Division. The total Union loss was 
12,653 out of 113,000 on the field, so that the loss 
of the coi-ps was about equal to the average for 
the whole army. 

In the Chancellorsville campaign, May, 1863, 
the corps was at first a part of the left wing, 
under ISedgwick, below Fredericksburg, but was 
soon transferred to the right at Chancellorsville. 
In this campaign the corps was commanded by 
Sickles, the divisions by Birney, Berry and 
AVhipple : the biigades of the First Division by 
Brigadier Generals Charles K. Graham and J H. 
Hobart Ward, and Col. Samuel B. Hayman ; 
those of the Second Division by Brigadier Gen- 
erals Joseph B. Carr, Joseph W. Eevere and 
Gershom Mott : and those of the Third Division 
by Colonels Emlen Frankhn, Samuel M. Bow- 
man and Hiram Berdan. Seven regimental 
commanders were killed or mortally wounded; 
namely, Colonels Stevens, 72d N. Y.: McKnight, 
105th Pa.; Crowther, llOth Pa., and Lancaster, 
115th Pa.; and Lieut. Cols. Sherlock, 5th Mich.; 
Chapin, 86th N. T., and Kirkwood, 63d Pa. 
The losses of the corps were 377 killed, 2,642 
wounded and 1,535 missing ; total, 4,554, out of 
a total loss of 17,287 in the Union Army ; almost 
double the average loss, in proportion to the 
strength of the corps. 

In the Gettysburg campaign, the corps was 
commanded by General Sickles, and its organiza- 
tion was as follows : 

First Division.— Maj. Gen. David B. Birney. 

First Brigade.— Brig. Gen. Charles K. Gra- 
ham : 57th, 63d, 68th, 105th, 114th, and 141st Pa. 

Second Brigade.— Brig. Gen. J. H. Hobart 
Ward : 20th Ind., 3d and 4th Me., 86th and 124th 
N. Y., 99th Pa., 1st and 2d U. S. Sharpshooters. 

Third Briqade.—Go\. P. Regis De Trobriand : 



17th Me., 3d and 5th Mich., 40th N. Y. and 110th 
Pa. 

Second Division.— Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Hum- 
phreys. 

First Bri (fade.— Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Carr : 
1st, 11th and 16th Mass., 12th N. H., 11th N. J., 
26th and 84th Pa. 

Second Briqade.—Qol. William K. Brewster : 
70th, 71st, 72d, 73d. 74th and 120th N. Y. 

Third Brigade.— Col. George C. Burhng : 2d 
N. H., 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th N. J., and 115th Pa. 

Corps Artillery.— Capt. George E. Randolph : 
2d N. J.: D, 1st N. Y.; 4th N. Y.: E, 1st R. L: K, 

4th r. s. 

Colonels Wheeler. 20th Ind., and EUis, 124th 
N. Y., were killed on the field, and Colonel Fran- 
cine, 7th N. J., was mortally wounded, among the 
regimental commanders. 

The coiTos loss was 585 killed, 3,029 wounded, 
and 597 missing ; total ,4,211, out of a total Union 
loss of 23,003 ; its loss being above the average in 
comparison with its strength, but not nearly so 
disproportionate as in the Chancellors ville cam- 
paign. 

The loss of a leg at Gettysburg separated Gen- 
eral Sickles from the corps. Under his succes- 
sor, Gen. William H. French, the corps was 
engaged at Liberty Mills, Oct. 15th: Kelly s 
Ford. Nov. 7th, and Jones' Cross Roads, Nov. 
27th, all in 1863, during the so-called Rappahan- 
nock and Mine Run campaigns. Its future oper- 
ations were all performed as a part of the Second 
Army Corps, and embraced the battles of the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold 
Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Ream's Sta- 
tion and Boydton Plank Road, in 1864 ; the final 
and successful attack on Petersburg, April 2, 
1865 ; the fatal rout of the Confederate army at 



9 

Sailor's Creek, four days later, and the closing 
affair near Farmville, the next succeeding day, 
followed the day after by the surrender of Gen- 
eral Lee. What then remained of the one-time 
Third Army Corps was thus constituted : 

Third Division, Second Army Corps.— Brig. 
Gen. Gershom Mott. 

First Brif/ade.—Biig. Gen. P. Regis De Tro- 
briand : 20th Ind., 1st Me. Heavy Art'y (joined 
1864), 40th, 73d, 86th and 124th N. Y.: 99th and 
110th Pa. 

Second Brigade.— Bvig. Gen. Byron R. Pierce: 
17th Me., 1st Mass. Heavy Art'y (joined 1864), 
5th Mich., 93d N. Y. (joined 1864), 57th, 105th 
and 141st Pa. 

Third Brigade.— Col. Robert McAlHster: 11th 
Mass., 7th, 8th and 11th N. J., and 120th N. Y. 

After the grand review at Washington in June, 
1865, the division was disbanded, and its regi- 
ments sent home for discharge. 

Of the 25 regiments in the two divisions origi- 
nally constituting the corps, 20 were still with 
it at the time of its discontinuance, and some of 
the remaining five were with it by consolidation 
with the 20 already mentioned. Two of the four 
corps commanders, six of the seven commanders 
of the £wo divisions, and 11 of the 13 brigade 
commanders in those divisions, were original 
Third Corps men. Thus, during the two years 
of its separate existence, the corps was pre- 
dominantly composed of officers, men and regi- 
ments who knew one another, and among whom 
and which a strong spirit of comradeship and a 
particular feeling of identity with the corps ex- 
isted. This sentiment of long and close identifi- 
cation with the corps found expression, in the 
autamn of 1863, in the organization of the still- 
existing Third Army Corps Union, confined at 



10 



that time, by the necessities of mihtary custom 
and discipline, to commissioned officers, but open 
to all ranks when all had returned to their civic 
equality. 

Upon the whole, the corps was fortunate in its 
battles. Williamsburg, the first of them, bore 
hardly upon the Second Division under Hooker, 
but the Union Army in the end possessed the 
field. At Fair Oaks, on the second day, the 
corps did its part handsomely in retrieving the 
disasters of the first day. At Oak Grove, June 
25, 1862, and subsequently at Malvern Hill, the 
results put heart into the men of the corps, and 
so again when Hooker returned to Malvern Hill 
on the second of August and dislodged the enemy 
that had taken post at that strong position. To 
Hooker's early-won reputation as an intrepid 
leader, and the high state of efficiency into which 
he had brought his distantly-stationed division 
during the winter of 1861, are io be attributed 
much of the onerous work imposed upon that 
division while he commanded it. 

At Groveton, and even at Chantilly, in Pope's 
campaign, the Third Corps was spared the scenes 
and feelings of disastrous defeat that finally over- 
took the campaign. The battle of Fredericks- 
burg was the first black day for the corps, so far 
as its own operations were concerned. Its two 
old divisions and its little Third Division were 
separated from one another, and their scattered 
endeavors conformed to those of other com- 
mands, to which the principal eftbrts of the battle 
had been assigned ; so that the corps shared in 
the general failure, and finally stole back to its 
camps, across the bridges by night, in a state of 
depression previously unknown to it. This ex- 
perience was repeated in the final outcome at 
Chancellors^dlle, yet the fighting of the corps 



11 



itself was made in high spirit, and with an enemy 
supposed at the time to be in retreat. After the 
close of the battle of the second day at Gettys- 
burg, Birney, who had succeeded the disabled 
Sickles in command of the corps, told the council 
of war at Meade's headquarters that the Third 
Corps was used up and not in condition for fur- 
ther operations ; but in the end he voted to stay 
and fight it out, and estimated that the corps 
could put 9,000 effective men in line for the next 
day. His vote was sounder than his opinion, 
for Meade had so promptly and courageously 
stripped his lines to sustain the corps in the posi- 
tion wherein Longstreet had attacked it, and the 
Army of the Potomac had so fought altogether, 
in a fashion new to it, that the men of the Third 
Corps who remained lay down on the field, quite 
aware of the severity of the contest whereof they 
had been the center, but unsuspicious of the fears 
that were shaking the breasts of the great ones 
set over them. It is an interesting circumstance 
that Birney's estimate of the number he could 
still put in line was equal to that of any coi*ps 
except the Second, a strong coi^os, strongly posted 
on Cemetery Ridge, and superior to that of four 
other of the seven infantry corps belonging to the 
army. 

Gettysburg was the last great battle of the 
coi-ps, and all of importance that followed it is 
part of the history of the Second Army Corps, 
already so well told by the late Francis A. Walker, 
its accomplished chief of staff. 

The life and memory of the Third Army Corps 
are notably free from controversies such as have 
attached themselves to the history of some other 
parts of the Union Army, as well as to parts of 
the Confederate army. No internal dissension 
occurred to mar its fraternity then or thereafter, 



002 235 202 7 



12 



nor did any subject of contention anse between 
it and other organizations or their commanders. 
The controversy between Generals Meade and 
Sickles, over the ad^'ancement by the latter of the 
hnes of the corps from its assigned position on 
the field of Gettysburg, was one personal to them- 
selves : death and time have cancelled its bitter- 
ness, and in the end the incident will assume its 
true proportions among the really great events of 
the great battle, yielding nothing to disturb the 
fame of either of the illustrious disputants. Its 
final repose will leave the history of the dear old 
corps as serene as it is glorious, and the diamond 
badge will remain as a fitting emblem of men of 
the diamond standard. 



UBRARV OF CONGRESS 

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